Cooling device



April 10, 1934. K. KRQNBORG ET AL COOLING DEVICE Filed July 20, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet l -w il l i fi rem/ 4.757

ATTORNEYS- INVENTORS 2mm kllL f.

April 1934. K. KRONBORG Er AL 1,954,388

COOLING DEVICE Filed July 20, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS fiim Mnu v g B) 6 2mm aim v W A TTORNEYJ.

April 10, 1934. K.- KRONBORG ET AL COOLING DEVI-CE Filed July 20, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR? Awm m pm BY alum I Fl m ATTORNEY$ April 10, 1934. K. KRONBORG El AL COOLING DEVICE Filed July 20, 1929 4 Sheets- Sheet 4 A TTORNEYJ Patented Apr. 10, 1934 COOLING DEVICE Kristian Kronborg and Benjamin P. Finkbone, Middletown, Ohio, assignors to The American Rolling Mill Company, Middletown, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application July 20, 1929, Serial No. 379,741

Claims.

Our invention has for its primary object the provision of a mechanismwhich will cool metallic sheets as a part of a continuous process from a comparatively high temperature to a temperature 5 very close to that ofthe surrounding atmosphere, without slowing up a sequence of operations in a continuous manufacturing process. While our invention has other utility, it is especially useful in connection with the cooling of galvanized iron sheets before subsequent'operations thereon. As set forth in a co-pending application Serial No. 368,322, filed June 4, 1929, in the name of Ralph O. Griflis, having the same assignee as this one, as recorded 'Liber O '139, page 663, Transfers of Patents, it has been discovered that the chief cause of the development of hardness in soft ferrous sheets during the galvanizing process, and the chief cause of hard and brittle coatings, are to be found in a working of the galvanized sheets such as a roller leveling, before the sheets have cooled.

The hereinabove noted application therefore sets forth and claims a method of producing galvanized sheets which comprises the cooling of galvanized sheets after the coating process to a temperature below 125 F. before roller leveling. It has been found that ordinary cooling means, such as the common wheel, are not adequate to cool galvanized sheets in modern commercial manufacture without so greatly slowing up the manufacturing program as to become impracticable. Hitherto there has been no means so far as we are aware which would take galvanized sheets, leaving the galvanizing pot say at around 800 F., and cool them to 125 F. or'lower. A specific object of our invention therefore is to provide means for effecting such a cooling of galvanized sheets in a commercial process without retarding the manufacturing program. i V a Still other objects of our invention are to provide means for thepurpose described which will not beexpensive "to construct or operate, and which will have such cooling efficiency that great floor space is not required.

These and other objects of our-invention which will be pointed out hereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled in theart upon reading these specifications, we accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts "of which the 5Q following is a full, clear and exact description,

reference being made to the'drawings which accompany this specification.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a general plan view of our apparatus and arrangement.

Figure 2 is a vertical elevation of the cooling rack.

Figure 3 is a plan thereof.

Figure 4 is a section through one of the chains.

Figure 5 shows the operation of the trip lever for the clutch mechanism.

Figure 6 is a view of a portion of the drive mechanism.

Our apparatus is designed to facilitate the carrying on of that sequence of operations recommended in the aforementioned co-pending application, namely: coating, cooling, leveling, piling, and inspecting.

To this end we provide a certain arrangement of the mechanisms operating upon the sheets, appropriate conveying apparatus and a cooling device in which the sheets are bathed in a continuous blanket of expanding air.

1 indicates the ordinary galvanizing pot in which cleaned and pickled ferrous sheets are first treated with flux and then passed through a bath of molten metal comprising zinc or an alloy thereof. The sheets are then carried. by conveyors 2 and 3 toa mechanism 4 which delivers them to a cooling device indicated generally at 5. This will hereinafter be more particularly described. After having passed through the cooling device, the sheets are delivered by a mechanism 6 to a roller leveler 7 equipped with a piling device 8. They may thus be stacked upon the body of a truck 9 where they are inspected. In this particular arrangement of apparatus the sheets follow a U-shaped path and there is a space in the center of the layout which is conveniently utilizable for the blowers and motors feeding air through the manifold of the cooler. In this way we achieve a very compact layout which requires practically no more space than the arrangements heretofore used.

2 and 3 are ordinary conveyors to carry the galvanized sheets from the pot to the cooling device proper. The mechanism 4 is an entrance conveying table for the cooling rack and in the embodiment shown is built in six sections, leaving spaces between for the passage of the arms of the cooling conveyor next to be described. This cooling conveyor is made up of five chains indicated in the several views at 10, which chains have links with extension arms 11 bolted to them. The chains run over sprockets 12, 13 and 14, and elsewhere they are carried in structural steel guides 15 which serve as tracks within which the rollers 16, with which the chains are equipped, may operate. Each of the arms 11 is provided with a foot 17 upon which the lower edge of the sheets may rest. Motors 18 and 19 drive blowers 20 and 21 which supply air through a duct 22 below the floor level to a plurality of manifolds 23 lying between the several chain sections. These manifolds extend for the full length of the cooling surface between sprockets 12 and 14 and are so shaped as to permit of an even distribution of air along their surfaces. A plurality of air directing vanes 24 are indicated in the top of each manifold and the construction of vanes and monifolds is such that an even blanket of gently expanding air is formed over the entire cooling surface. As shown in Figure 2, dampers may be provided on the several manifolds, controlled by counterweights 26, so that one or more of the manifolds may be rendered inoperative when short sheets are being run.

On the entrance table 4 of the cooling rack, we provide a clutch trip lever 27 which lies in the path of a sheet 28 being carried along the table. Thus the sheet will strike the pivoted rod 27 and carry it down into the position shown in the dotted lines. The rod has a counterweight 29 to return it to its normal position when the sheet has been lifted away as will hereinafter be described, and a light chain 30 is used to control the clutch mechanism to operate the cooling conveyor. The clutch is indicated at 31 in Figure 3 and is controlled by a latch 32 which is operated through one or more levers or bell cranks as may be found necessary by the chain 30. A motor 33 through appropriate gearing and a chain drive 34 transmits power to a worm wheel 35 mounted rotatably upon the shaft 36. When the clutch 31 is actuated, it causes the wheel 35 to drive the shaft 36. This shaft actuates an eccentric 37 which is equipped with a pawl 38 and. drives a ratchet wheel 39, having twelve teeth. Thus one revolution of the shaft 36 will bring about of a revolution of the ratchet wheel 39 fastened on shaft 40. This shaft, through gears 41 and 42, transmits power to the head shaft 43 of the chain conveyor. It will be obvious that modifications in this mechanism may be made as desired. The general object is to cause the conveyor to move a certain distance each time it picks up a sheet from the table 4; and the mechanical means taken to do this and the ratio of movement of the several parts, is made such that the conveyor movement for each sheet will be a movement appropriate to the size of the conveyor, its distance of travel, and the other exigencies of operation which will be apparent to one skilled in the art. In commercial installations which we have made, we have caused the chain conveyor to move 6 inches for each sheet as it is picked up thereby and we have found that this rate of movement is sufficient not only to lift the sheet away from the clutch trip lever 2'? so as to make room for the next succeeding sheet, but also to deliver perfectly cooled sheets at the exit end of the cooling device.

The exit conveyor 6 of the cooling apparatus is preferably equipped with belts 44 which are slightly askew so as not only to convey the sheets past the several arms in delivering the said sheets to the roller leveler 7, but also to move them slightly outwardly so as to prevent the marring of their edges by scraping them along the feet 17 of the arms 11.

It will be clear that the construction of our cooling device is such as to deliver sheets from a galvanizing pot to a cooling conveyor where they are automatically picked up by the arms,

rapidly lifted away from the conveying table and then carried on edge over the top surface of a manifold from which the surfaces thereof are uniformly bathed in a blanket of air, after which the sheets are redeposited upon a conveyor moved somewhat outwardly from the arms, and automatically sent to a roller leveler, after which they are piled.

Our apparatus has made possible the commercial realization of the process set forth in the hereinabove mentioned copending application. Modifications may be made in the arrangement of our apparatus and in the mechanical construction thereof; but we have not found it possible to vary the cooling principle and achieve a satisfactory reduction in the temperature of sheets. Specifically we have not found it possible to use jets delivering air under substantial pressure to the surfaces of sheets by reason of the inefficient and non-uniform cooling effects produced thereby. We have not found it possible to gain an adequate cooling excepting by conveying sheets edgewise over means adapted to bathe them in continuous currents of gently expanding air 1 which are uniform over the entire sheet surface; 100 but with our apparatus as described, in commercial practice, we have found it possible on the hottest summer days to cool sheets immediately after they have left the galvanizing pot to a temperature well below 125 F. without slowing up the commercial production of sheets.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. A cooling device comprising interspaced shafts and sprockets and a plurality of endless chains moving thereover in interspaced relationship, a framework supporting said shaft, arms on the links of said chains lying at an angle thereto r and adapted to form conveyor elements for said 115 sheets, a plurality of manifolds mounted in said framework and adapted to deliver air along the upward path of motion of said chains in uniform volume therealong, and conveyors adapted to deliver sheets to said arms at one end of said 126 framework and to remove them therefrom at the other end of said framework, and vanes in the tops of said manifolds adapted to deliver against said sheets a uniform blanket of expanding air. 125

2. In a cooling device a framework supporting shafts and sprockets, a plurality of endless chains operating over said sprockets in interspaced relationship, rollers on said chains, arms on the links of said chains extending at an angle there- 130 from and adapted to form a conveyor for sheets whereby said sheets may be carried in substantially parallel but interspaced relationship edgewise along the upper path of travel of said chains, an entrance conveyor at one end of said frame having interspaced sections between which said arms may pass whereby sheets may be lifted from said conveyor, an exit conveyor at the other end of said frame having interspaced sections between which said arms may pass, whereby sheets imay be removed therefrom, guideways in said frame along which said rollers may slide and support said chains, a plurality of manifolds in interspaced relationship in said frame having spaces therebetween through which the said 1 1 chains and arms may pass in their lower path of travel, said manifolds adapted to deliver a uniform blanket of expanding air beneath the up per path of travel of said chains, and air directing vanes in the opening of said manifolds. 31593 ids 3. In a cooling device a framework supporting shafts and sprockets, a plurality of endless chains operating over said sprockets in interspaced relationship, rollers on said chains, arms on the links of said chains extending at an angle therefrom and adopted to form a conveyor for sheets whereby said sheets may be carried in substantially parallel but interspaced relationship edgewise along the upper path of travel of said chains, an entrance conveyor at one end of said frame having interspaced sections between which said arms may pass whereby sheets may be lifted from said conveyor, an exit conveyor at the other end of said frame having interspaced sections between which said arms may pass, whereby sheets may be removed therefrom, guideways in said frame along which said rollers may slide and support said chains, a plurality of manifolds in interspaced relationship in said frame having spaces therebetween through which the said chains and arms may pass in their lower path of travel, said manifolds adapted to deliver a uniform blanket of expanding air beneath the upper path of travel of said chains, and air directing vanes in the openings of said manifolds, said exit conveyor comprising roller conveyor sections operating at less than a 90 angle to the path of travel of said sheets on said arms whereby said sheets during removal thereof may be carried outwardly away from said chains to avoid marring their edges.

4. In a cooling device a framework supporting shafts and sprockets, a plurality of endless chains operating over said sprockets in interspaced relationship, rollers on said chains, arms on the links of said chains extending at an angle therefrom and adapted to form a conveyor for sheets whereby said sheets may be carried in substantially parallel but interspaced relationship edgewise along the upper path of travel of said chains, an entrance conveyor at one end of said frame having interspaced sections between which said arms may pass whereby sheets may be lifted from said conveyor, an exit conveyor at the other end of said frame having interspaced sections between which said arms may pass, whereby sheets may be removed therefrom, guideways in said frame along which said rollers may slide and support said chains, a plurality of manifolds in interspaced relationship in said frame having spaces therebetween through which the said chains and arms may pass in their lower path of travel, said manifolds adapted to deliver a uniform blanket of expanding air beneath the upper path of travel of said chains, and air directing vanes in the openings of said manifolds, and means actuated by said sheets individually to move said chains.

5. In a cooling device a framework supporting shafts and sprockets, a plurality of endless chains operating over said sprockets in interspaced relationship, rollers on said chains, arms on the links of said chains extending at an angle therefrom and adapted to form a conveyor for sheets whereby said sheets may be carried in substantially parallel but interspaced relationship edgewise along the upper path of travel of said chains, an entrance conveyor at one end of said frame having interspaced sections between which said arms may pass whereby sheets may be lifted from said conveyor, an exit conveyor at the other end of said frame having interspaced sections be tween which said arms may pass, whereby sheets may be removed therefrom, guideways in said frame along which said rollers may slide and support said chains, a plurality of manifolds in interspaced relationship in said frame having spaces therebetween through which the said chains and arms may pass in their lower path of travel,

said manifolds adapted to deliver a uniform blanket of expanding air beneath the upper path of travel of said chains, and air directing vanes in the openings of said manifolds, and means actuated by said sheets individually to move said chains, said means comprising power means and a clutch, means operated by said clutch to effect a step by step motion of said shafts, and trip means actuated by said sheets to control said clutch.

KRISTIAN KRONBORG.

BENJAMIN P. FINKBONE. 

